2011 Ford Shelby GT500

This new lightweight Shelby can become a real heavyweight at a track day.

Most Read

Alton, Virginia—If there were an automotive version of Dancing with the Stars, let's just say that last year's Ford Shelby GT500 would have Buzz Aldrin's chance of making the finals. The Shelby-fied supercharged was many things, but "agile corner-carver" wasn't one of them.

Great news for 2011, though, as this racing-striped chunky monkey has shed considerable weight and, at the same time, gained a bit of power. And to fully leverage its new leaner self, the GT500 is available with a transformative SVT Performance Package (a $3495 option) that trades the suspension equivalent of Bingo Arm for ripped muscle.

The lion's share of mass reduction—a full 102 lb.—comes from substituting aluminum for cast iron in the V-8's block, especially advantageous in reducing the car's nose-heaviness. The block, which shares basic architecture with the GT supercar's but tweaked for wet-sump oiling here, represents Ford's first use of a plasma transferred wire arc coating for the cylinder bores, in lieu of heavier cast-iron liners. The Eaton M122 Roots-type blower still packs a maximum of 9.0 psi into 5.4 liters of displacement, but now there's a twin-row charge cooler with 40 percent more cooling capacity. As before, all the main twirling and reciprocating bits are forged (steel crank and rods, aluminum pistons), but the exhaust tubing diameter grows from 2½ in. to 2¾, with an H-pipe crossover instead of the former X-pipe. With 38 percent less backpressure, the new exhaust is primarily responsible for the 10-bhp bump, increasing total output to 550 bhp at 6200 rpm and 510 lb.-ft. of torque at 4250 rpm.

But the oyster's pearl is the SVT Performance Package that helps bring cornering speeds in line with obvious straight-line potential... claims 12.3 seconds in the quarter mile at 119 mph. The new Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar G:2 tires (265/40ZR-19 front, 285/35ZR-20 rear) play a huge role; the outer half of each tire's unidirectional tread resembles a lightly grooved slick. They're mounted on forged wheels that remove a total of 13.6 lb. of unsprung weight compared to the standard GT500's alloys. Front and rear spring rates are a respective 20.5 and 9.5 percent stiffer than the 2011 base car's, and ride height is reduced by 11 mm in front and 8 mm rear. To cap it off, the SVT package swaps the standard 3.55:1 final drive for a more dragstrip- friendly 3.73:1 gearset.

The changes make for a far more serious track car, as back-to-back drives of both the 2011 SVT Package cars and 2010 cars would attest—around the full 3.27-mile length of a world-class circuit, Virginia International Raceway. Where the 2010 would howl and push in the tighter stuff, the 2011 SVT version cornered with flatter, locked-down conviction, keeping the front contact patches far happier (and quieter) at the limit as well as providing more confidence on turn-in. It also felt significantly more composed under hard braking and the firmer damping resulted in less, um, rear axle indecision over the track's characteristic high-speed crests. Ford spokespeople claim the changes are good for nearly 5 sec. a lap here (2:58.5 versus 3:03.3) under similar conditions with the same driver, and I have no reason to doubt that number.

On the road drive portion, the 2011 SVT-equipped car rode firmly but stopped short of gut-busting jiggliness, wholly appropriate for the car. The new electric-assist steering was indistinguishable from the 2010 car's already praiseworthy hydraulic system. Shifting? The linkage of the Tremec TR6060 6-speed is direct and gates are well defined, though it's a little balky when really manhandling the cue-ballcapped lever. That foible is easy to forgive, though, when the boost builds, the exhaust disgorges big rumbling chunks of sound and the GT500 starts punching an everbigger hole through the air.

Calling the 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 a (relative) lightweight is no insult, because it's now a true heavyweight in the midst of its track-day peers. Pricing starts at $48,645 for the coupe, and $53,645 for the convertible.